Speed-governed stopping mechanism.



G. E. MOLYNEUX.

SPEED GOVERNED STOPPING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-22.19l5.

Patented Nov. 19, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

WITNESSES G. E. MOLYNEUX. SPEED GOVERNED STOPPING MECHANISM;

APPLICATION FILED SEPT--22, l9l 5.

Patented Nov. 19, 1918.-

GEORGE E. MOLYNEUX, 0E BAYONNE, NEW JERSEY.

SPEED-GOVERNED STOPPING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 19, 1918..

Application filed September 22, 1915. Serial No. 51,930.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. MoLYNnUx, a citizen of the United States, and residing in the city of Bayonne, county of Hudson, in the State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Speed-Governed Stopping Mechanisms, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

In another application, filed August 31st, 1915, Serial Number 48,191, there is shown and described an improved mechanism for arresting quickly the motion of high speed machines without shock or jar or undue wear, such mechanism having been designed with a view to overcoming difliculties incident to the use of other mechanisms intended for the same general purpose and to the production of a comparatively simple and compact mechanism complete in itself and capable of application readily to sewing machines in use, without reconstruction, and

' avoiding the use of'a dog carried by a movable rotatable part and acted upon directly by centrifugal force, and also avoiding the use of cooperating stop-members movable relatively toward and from each other in an axial direction and requiring the use of locking means for locking them against such relative movement. The present invention is embodied in a mechanism which is similar in some respects to the mechanism shown and described in the said application; it avoids the use of a movable dog carried by a rotating part, and while it has a stopmember movable in an axial direction with respect to another stop-member, it has no positive locking means to lock such member positively against movement.

The improved mechanism comprises a relatively fixed stop-member, a rotatingstop-member pressed normally toward the fixed member, a centrifugal body mounted for radial movement in a rotating member and at high speeds closing a gap therein and forming a' continuous track, and a detector finger carried by a relatively fixed member and bearing at high speeds upon the continuous track completed by the cen- I trifugal body and adapted to be received in such gap when the speed falls below the predetermined minimum so as to permit the rotating member to move into engagement with the fixed member. The invention will be more fully explained hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in which it is illustrated and in which Figure 1 is a view in elevation of the improved mechanism, with a portion of the bed-plate and arm of a sewing machine shown in section.

1 Fig. 2 is a similar view but with all of the annulus which forms a part of the rotating 1 member.

Fig. 6 isa similar'view of the relatively fixed member.

Fig. 7 is a similar view, partly broken away, of the inner portion or body of the rotating member.

The mechanism is shown as applied to an ordinary sewing machine, the bed-plate of which is indicated at a, the usual arm at b and the driving shaft at c with its driving pulley d.

[he relatively fixed member 6 of the mechanism, carrying the stop-lug e on its left hand face, is shown assecured to the inner or left hand face of the vertical arm 6 in such manner as to have a limited movement for the purpose of cushioning the shock when the mechanism operates, loosely encircling the shaft 0. It is secured to the face of the arm I) by screw-bolts 7 provided with'washers f and passing through arcshaped', slots 6 in the stop-member 6 into the face of the arm I), a limited movement of the member a being thus permitted. The

'member 6 is also provided with a lug e which is cushioned by a heavy spring 9 and a lighter spring g which are seated on abutments 9 and g on the inner face of the arm I), the spring 9 cushioning the movement of the member 6 in stopping and the spring 9' cushioningthe rebound. The member 6 is also provided with a detector finger (2 parallel with the axis of the member 6.

Mounted on the shaft 0 is the rotatable stop-member it held by a key h so as to ro tate with the shaft but arrangedto be moved longitudinally thereon. For convenience in manufacture this rotatable member comprises a central body hi provided with a grooved hub 72, and an annulus h which has in one edge a gap 71,. The body h 1s provided on one side with a stop-lug h, for cooperationwith the stop-lug c on the rela-' tively fixed member 6, and is also provided with a radial slot if, in which is mounted a centrifugal body 2', that is, a body which is subject to the action of centrifugal force. This body is provided on one side with a plate 71, formed with a tapered end i to enter and fit the correspondingly shaped gap 72, in the ring h so as to fill the same and make a continuous bearing surface on the side face of the rotating member at high speeds; the centrifugal body ,7; is formed with a neck 2' to enter and travelfreely in the slot k and with a keeper 7: to retain the centrifugal body in place. It will be understood that the centrifugal body is applied to the main body if of the rotating member before the ring it is applied, such ring,

which'is held in place by screws k retain' ing the centrifugal body in operative relation with the central body 72?. A light spring '6 which may be seated upon an adjusting screw i, accessible through an opening 2' in the ring h, acts to press the centrifugal body i normally inward, against the action of centrifugal force, so that when the speed of rotationfalls below the predetermined minimum the centrifugal body moves inward, opening the gap h so that it may be entered by the detector finger 6 A spring 70, reacting against a fixed ring 70' on the shaft 0, presses the rotating member it normally toward the relatively fixed member 6, this actionof the spring being resisted by a bell-crank lever Z forked at one end to engage the grooved hub 72, and connected at the other end, through a spring Z and link Z with the usual controlling treadle so that the operator, by the pressure of the foot on the treadle, may withdraw the rotatable member h from engagement with the fixed member 6. The release of pressure on the treadle. as is usual in the operation of high speed sewing machines, effects the disconnection of the sewing machine from the power shaft, through the usual transmission, not shown. At any speed above the predetermined minimum, as already explained, the centrifugal body 2', overcoming the action of the spring '5 causes the gap b in the ring it to be filled by the outer portion 2' of the centrifugal body, so that a continuous annular bearing is provided for the end of the detector finger or pin 6'. As soon, however, as the speed of the sewing machine, after disconnection from the power shaft,

falls below the predetermined minimum, the

centrifu al body 2' is moved back by the spring i so as to open the gap 72, and as use without departing from the spirit of v the invention, which is not limited to the precise construction shown.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a stopping mechanism, the combination of a relatively fixed member, a rotating member, said members being adapted for engagement with each other to stop the rotating member and one of saidmembers being movable toward and from the other, means to press said movable member toward the other, means interposed between said members to prevent the movement of one towardv the other, and a centrifugal body carried by the rotating member and adapted to prevent or permit effective operation of said means.

2. In a stopping mechanism, the combination of a relatively fixed member, a rotating member, said members being adapted for engagement with each other to" stop the rotating member and one of said members being movable toward and from the other, a pin carried by one of said members and adapted to have a bearing against the other of said members to prevent movement of one toward the other, and a centrifugal body carried by the rotating member and adapted to prevent or permit the effective operation of said pin.

3. In a stopping mechanism, the combination of a relatively fixed member, a rotating member, said members being adapted for engagement with each other to stop the rotating-member and one of said members being movable toward and from the other, a pin interposed between said members and having a bearing against one ofsaid members to prevent movement of one towardthe other, and a centrifugal body carried by the rotating member, said centrifugal body, at speeds above the predetermined minimum, forming a bearing for said pin to prevent movement of one member toward the other and at speeds below the predetermined minimum withdrawing to form a space to receive such pin and permit movement of one member toward the other. 7 r

4. In a stopping mechanism, the combination of a relatively fixed member, a rotating engagement with each other to stop the rotating member and one of said members being movable toward and from the other, means to press said movable member toward the other, a detector pin carried by the relatively fixed member, and a centrifugal body carried by the rotating member, said rotating member and centrifugal body forming, at all speeds above the predetermined minimum, a continuous bearing for the detector pin to prevent engagement of the two members, the inward movement of the centrifugal body, at a speed at or below the predetermined minimum, forming in said bearing a gap to receive the detector pin and permit engagement of the two members.

5. In a stopping mechanism, the combination of a relatively fixed member, a rotating member, said members being adapted for engagement with each other to stop the rotating member and one of said members being movable toward and from the other, means to press said movable member toward the other, a detector pin carried by the relatively fixed member, said rotating member being formed with a radial slot and forming on one side face a circular bearing track for said pin with a gap therein, and a centrifugal body mounted in said radial slot and adapted, at speeds above the predetermined minimum. to fill said gap and form a continuous bearing track for said pin and at speeds below the predetermined minimum to withdraw and leave said gap open to receive said pin.

6. In a stopping mechanism, the combina tion of a relatively fixed member, a rotating member, said members being adapted for engagement with each other to stop the rotating member and one of said members being movable toward and from the other, means to press said movable member toward the other, and radially movable, unyielding means carried by one of said members and acting normally to prevent the movement of one toward the other and actuated by a reduction in centrifugal force developed by the rotation of the rotating member to permit the movement of the movable member toward the other.

This specification signed this 21st day of September, 1915.

GEORGE E. MOLYNEUX.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. O. 

